A guide to updating your B8 A5/S5/RS5 to MMI 3G+

[Sofreshs5]

So I FINALLY got my car back... I had a chance to get component protection removed from both items. The only problem I am having is that my VCDS doesn't give me access to the 5F electric information byte 14 bit 5. I've tried to manually change it but that doesn't work. I researched and the only choice I have found was to either have the dealership code it with VAS or to purchase facelift MMI controls. If anyone has encountered this and fixed it with VCDS... please reach out to me. Thanks

[Jeff V.]

I did exactly that with my MMI 3G+ bench setup. I've got a 8R1 035 746 G head unit running P0814 firmware. I had no problem going into VCDS and changing byte 14 bit 5. I'm using a 2008 MMI 2G control panel for testing purposes. I'll buy a facelift panel if I ever get it swapped into my car, but this works fine for now.

What error message do you get in VCDS when you try to change yours?

[Sofreshs5]

I did exactly that with my MMI 3G+ bench setup. I've got a 8R1 035 746 G head unit running P0814 firmware. I had no problem going into VCDS and changing byte 14 bit 5. I'm using a 2008 MMI 2G control panel for testing purposes. I'll buy a facelift panel if I ever get it swapped into my car, but this works fine for now.

What error message do you get in VCDS when you try to change yours?

Hey Jeff I saw your comment on the Ross tech forum... so the unit I have is 8R1 035 746 C. The firmware was updated at audi yesterday when I had CP removed. When I go into vcds I don't have an option to select bit 5 on byte 14. So I tried to manually change the code. Once I go to edit the code, the options for bit five show up but once I click it. It immediately disappears and no change is made. I did reboot MMI to see if that would help but still nothing. If you have any ideas I would appreciate it. I would upload files but for some reason I can't do that anymore

[Jeff V.]

Hmm. Yours is slightly older than mine, but that shouldn't matter. Especially with updated firmware. I assume your VCDS is up to date? I'll go plug into mine and see if I can come up with a suggestion.

[Sofreshs5]

Hmm. Yours is slightly older than mine, but that shouldn't matter. Especially with updated firmware. I assume your VCDS is up to date? I'll go plug into mine and see if I can come up with a suggestion.

Yes vcds is up to date. It's 17.8
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong

[Jeff V.]

I just went and did this twice on my bench setup. Once to revert it to the stock 3G+ settings, and the the 2nd time to re-enable my 2G control panel.

In VCDS, go to Module 5F, click coding, then click long coding helper.

Click Byte 14 in row 3. It's the 15th value from the left (the first value is Byte 00). It'll highlight in yellow. Type in the new value. If your current value is 04, change it to 24.
You can also edit the binary value below. Doesn't matter, the end result is the same. 00000100 = 04 in hex, and 00100100 = 24 in hex. Type the value you want, and press enter.



The new value should show up, but we have not actually written the changes to the module yet.

Click the Exit button in the upper left corner to go back to the main coding screen. Click 'Do it'.

On mine, I got a warning about it possibly being an uninitialized module due to the workshop code being 06335. I just told it to keep the values it already had. You may not get the warning since your system was updated by a legit dealer.

If everything works, there should be a popup box that says 'module accepted coding'.

Exit all the way out of VCDS, then do a 3 finger reboot on the unit. This will work regardless of the baud rate being right or wrong.

Once the system comes back up, you should be good to go.

If it still doesn't work, go into VCDS, module 5F, and then Advanced ID. Copy the first paragraph and post it here so I can read it. This is what mine looks like:

Sunday,09,July,2017,23:00:16:37177
VCDS Version: Release 17.1.3 (x64)
                Address 5F: Information Electr.
Control Module Part Number: 8R1 035 746 G
  Component and/or Version: H-BNT-NA      H42 0901
           Software Coding: 160200060005A1EF51028B5E00000403140000000000000000
            Work Shop Code: WSC 06335
                      VCID: BB3670813AF419997C-80EE

Don't try to copy my coding value though. This is from when my module was still set up as a Q5. I'm just using this as an example of what I want to see from your module.

[Sofreshs5]

I just went and did this twice on my bench setup. Once to revert it to the stock 3G+ settings, and the the 2nd time to re-enable my 2G control panel.

In VCDS, go to Module 5F, click coding, then click long coding helper.

Click Byte 14 in row 3. It's the 15th value from the left (the first value is Byte 00). It'll highlight in yellow. Type in the new value. If your current value is 04, change it to 24.
You can also edit the binary value below. Doesn't matter, the end result is the same. 00000100 = 04 in hex, and 00100100 = 24 in hex. Type the value you want, and press enter.



The new value should show up, but we have not actually written the changes to the module yet.

Click the Exit button in the upper left corner to go back to the main coding screen. Click 'Do it'.

On mine, I got a warning about it possibly being an uninitialized module due to the workshop code being 06335. I just told it to keep the values it already had. You may not get the warning since your system was updated by a legit dealer.

If everything works, there should be a popup box that says 'module accepted coding'.

Exit all the way out of VCDS, then do a 3 finger reboot on the unit. This will work regardless of the baud rate being right or wrong.

Once the system comes back up, you should be good to go.

If it still doesn't work, go into VCDS, module 5F, and then Advanced ID. Copy the first paragraph and post it here so I can read it. This is what mine looks like:

Sunday,09,July,2017,23:00:16:37177
VCDS Version: Release 17.1.3 (x64)
                Address 5F: Information Electr.
Control Module Part Number: 8R1 035 746 G
  Component and/or Version: H-BNT-NA      H42 0901
           Software Coding: 160200060005A1EF51028B5E00000403140000000000000000
            Work Shop Code: WSC 06335
                      VCID: BB3670813AF419997C-80EE

Don't try to copy my coding value though. This is from when my module was still set up as a Q5. I'm just using this as an example of what I want to see from your module.

WOOOOOW. YOU SAVED ME!!! Thank you so much. Can I send you some money through PayPal? Message me your PayPal address and let me buy you some beer

[Jeff V.]

I'm glad I could help. I don't need any money. This is fun for me. Give a few dollars to a local charity if you still feel you want to balance out your karma

[Sofreshs5]

👍🏽

[Sofreshs5]

I'm glad I could help. I don't need any money. This is fun for me. Give a few dollars to a local charity if you still feel you want to balance out your karma

I did that. Thanks. I have a question for you. Were you able to get the navigation and media player running? Mine is stuck on the initializing screen...

[Jeff V.]

Keep in mind that my MMI3G is just a pile of parts on my workbench. But it does load up the maps and Google nav stuff. I have it connected to my home internet using a USB to ethernet adapter. I didn't have to do anything special to get that going. It worked out of the box. The media player just says 'initializing' but I chalked that up to it not actually being installed in a car. There's no radio or amp for it to talk to either.

Can you see if your MMI unit has any error codes in it? When the system first starts up, you can see the little Google logo in the bottom corner fill up like a progress bar. It's not super obvious because it just changes from light gray to white. Is yours doing anything?

[ians]

All my conversion is done and working perfectly with audi connect and google map. But still have 1 minor hiccup, under MMI the "Garage door opener" option is grey out and my car did come with garage door opener and it is still working just the setting under MMI is not available anymore after the conversion. Any idea?

[prkieffer]

All my conversion is done and working perfectly with audi connect and google map. But still have 1 minor hiccup, under MMI the "Garage door opener" option is grey out and my car did come with garage door opener and it is still working just the setting under MMI is not available anymore after the conversion. Any idea?

You have to enable in hidden menu when the MMI is upgraded then it will show.


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[ians]

You have to enable in hidden menu when the MMI is upgraded then it will show.


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Do you know which setting from hidden menu? thanks

[Sofreshs5]

Keep in mind that my MMI3G is just a pile of parts on my workbench. But it does load up the maps and Google nav stuff. I have it connected to my home internet using a USB to ethernet adapter. I didn't have to do anything special to get that going. It worked out of the box. The media player just says 'initializing' but I chalked that up to it not actually being installed in a car. There's no radio or amp for it to talk to either.

Can you see if your MMI unit has any error codes in it? When the system first starts up, you can see the little Google logo in the bottom corner fill up like a progress bar. It's not super obvious because it just changes from light gray to white. Is yours doing anything?

I believe I was sold a unit that didn't have maps or media installed as an option. It has access to google but I have to input apn information. Other than that it just shows 2g at the bottom. So I'm trying to get my money back from midwestkeyless at the moment because the unit is not what was described in the ad. Other than that thanks a lot for your help.

[Jeff V.]

I think the Midwest Keyless units maybe second hand units that were replaced under warranty or something. They would have been refurbished if someone had bothered to actually do anything to them. I bought mine from them as well. It at least boots up and loads regular and Google maps, which is amazing since it's just a pile of modules and wires on my workbench. It definitely came out of someone's car since I found their frequently used map locations and contact lists still loaded in the unit.

With that said, I don't think it was possible to have an MMI3G+ that didn't have navigation. I really think your unit is corrupt, or someone tried to load bootleg maps that don't have a valid license. That's why I was asking about error codes.

It's also possible that your hard drive is corrupt. That might explain why both the maps and the media don't work, since those are both on the hard drive.

I just remembered there's a way to check MMI error codes via the hidden menus. It's a quick workaround if you don't have easy access to VCDS. Let me know if you need the steps to check that.

[prkieffer]

I bought mine from Midwest keyless - having the same issue maps database is missing. Need to find someone with US map, they are not shared as often as in Europe for some reason. I need a firmware update to the newest also if someone has it. Just throwing it out there. Multiple errors codes at the moment trying to sort them out with Gunnar and Ash. Odd one is steering wheels controls stopped working after upgrade and CP removal.


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[Jeff V.]

Current firmware is K0942_6. There's supposed to be a new map database released around the end of the year, so you might want to try to hold off before paying for it.

I haven't found any recent US files for download anywhere. I'd buy them, but I need to solve some other problems before I worry about that.

[GKTS4]

Is the head unit ending in C (in the part number) the best one to look for? I checked online and there's a bunch of them up for sale that end in later numbers, "G", "H" and the like. Are these ones no good? What's the difference between these later revisions? I also noticed that many of them don't come with the buttons on the bottom, traction control and drive select. Is it possible to swap over the pre-facelift buttons and have them functional?

This would be on a 2012 S5 with existing 3G high, the one with the little joystick on the main mmi button, if that makes any difference.

Thanks

Sent from mTalk

[Jeff V.]

If you're going to try to use a 3G SIM for your online Google maps, try to get the newest one possible.

Some of the older MMIs have old cellular modems that will only connect at 2G speeds.

If you're going to try to do one of the cobbled together wifi setups, then this shouldn't matter.

[GKTS4]

Could I still retain my old control panel and climate controls with a newer mmi panel? I happen to like the layout i currently have more than the updated one, so keeping my old controls would be preferable.

Ideally I'd just be swapping the mmi console and nothing else.

Any idea about swapping over my old drive select and traction control buttons? Most don't seem to come with the new buttons included.

Sent from mTalk

[Jeff V.]

You can keep your old panel. But the Phone and Car buttons will be reversed. I don't know if there's any way to fix that with software. Climate controls will still work, but you'll probably lose the on screen menus for it. I've heard climate older modules will work with a software update, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

You can just swap over your drive select and traction buttons.

[GKTS4]

Nice. Sounds like for starters I can just pick up the one part and see how everything runs, then swap other controls if I decide to. The modules seem to be pretty cheap too.

Thanks for all the information. 👍🏻

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[cappetto28]

SO I recently updated to MMI 3G+, and got component protection removed. But now the controls do not work. They dont even light up. Am I needing to buy a new control panel or can this be fixed with a simple VAG-COM fix? Id rather not buy a new control panel. But from what I have read its not necessary to.

[Jeff V.]

Try the VCDS fix I mentioned in post #46. It's possible that stuff was reset when the dealer cleared your CP.

[Section31]

SO I recently updated to MMI 3G+, and got component protection removed. But now the controls do not work. They dont even light up. Am I needing to buy a new control panel or can this be fixed with a simple VAG-COM fix? Id rather not buy a new control panel. But from what I have read its not necessary to.

From the first post:

* Check to make sure the communication speed between your MMI buttons and MMI head unit is correct. It should be set to 9600 baud. (select the 5F - Information Electr. controller, select byte 14, check bit 5)

[Sofreshs5]

[
QUOTE=Jeff V.;12610076]I just went and did this twice on my bench setup. Once to revert it to the stock 3G+ settings, and the the 2nd time to re-enable my 2G control panel.

In VCDS, go to Module 5F, click coding, then click long coding helper.

Click Byte 14 in row 3. It's the 15th value from the left (the first value is Byte 00). It'll highlight in yellow. Type in the new value. If your current value is 04, change it to 24.
You can also edit the binary value below. Doesn't matter, the end result is the same. 00000100 = 04 in hex, and 00100100 = 24 in hex. Type the value you want, and press enter.



The new value should show up, but we have not actually written the changes to the module yet.

Click the Exit button in the upper left corner to go back to the main coding screen. Click 'Do it'.

On mine, I got a warning about it possibly being an uninitialized module due to the workshop code being 06335. I just told it to keep the values it already had. You may not get the warning since your system was updated by a legit dealer.

If everything works, there should be a popup box that says 'module accepted coding'.

Exit all the way out of VCDS, then do a 3 finger reboot on the unit. This will work regardless of the baud rate being right or wrong.

Once the system comes back up, you should be good to go.

If it still doesn't work, go into VCDS, module 5F, and then Advanced ID. Copy the first paragraph and post it here so I can read it. This is what mine looks like:

Sunday,09,July,2017,23:00:16:37177
VCDS Version: Release 17.1.3 (x64)
                Address 5F: Information Electr.
Control Module Part Number: 8R1 035 746 G
  Component and/or Version: H-BNT-NA      H42 0901
           Software Coding: 160200060005A1EF51028B5E00000403140000000000000000
            Work Shop Code: WSC 06335
                      VCID: BB3670813AF419997C-80EE

Don't try to copy my coding value though. This is from when my module was still set up as a Q5. I'm just using this as an example of what I want to see from your module.[/QUOTE]

[Daniel S4]

@ Jeff V.
Here is an interesting one...
I changed my MMI to a 3G Unit with the updated controls [MMI-Controls: 8T0 919 611 C WFX].The dealer installed my parts and removed the CP for me, fixed the A/C issues and everything was great! Worked great for 2 weeks until the HDD died [Head noise Black screen]. I bought a 3GP unit and installed it, Dealer took the CP off [Didn't charge...] but the MMI Controls did NOT work.
Dealer said the controls possibly went bad. Installed my MMI controls from my 2G unit and they worked fine. I bought a second MMI-Controls: 8T0 919 611 C WFX and guess what, They DID NOT work either.
In searching I found this thread... great info here, if indeed my controls [Two sets of 8T0 919 611 C WFX] are speaking a different baud rate than the 3GP unit.
Is there an explanation as to how the original 2G MMI controls are working? they work fine, granted the few buttons that would do something different than expected, IE: Setup button brings the Telephone up...
Any clarity would be incredibly helpfu..! THX!

[Jeff V.]

If you bought a used 3GP main unit, it's possible someone had already changed the coding to work with the older control panel. Removing component protection would not change this coding.

Follow the instructions above to check your coding values. That will tell us for sure what is going on.

[Section31]

Hey guys, it looks like people are missing the part of the writeup about setting communication speed, so I went ahead and updated the original post to make that part huge. Pasting that here so nobody misses it:

IMPORTANT: If your controls don't work after doing this upgrade, check to make sure the communication speed between your MMI controls and MMI head unit is correct. With the part numbers shown here, it should be set to 9600 baud. (select the 5F - Information Electr. controller, select byte 14, check bit 5)

[Daniel S4]

Thanks Section31,
What Value should the bit 5 be?
Also, wouldn't this be also achieved thru the green Menu? I think I saw that you can set Baud rate thru some frntcontrol?
Any info will be appreciated.

[Jeff V.]

Also, wouldn't this be also achieved thru the green Menu? I think I saw that you can set Baud rate thru some frntcontrol?

You cannot navigate the green menu if your controls do not work...

Any bit, in any computer, only has two possible values. 1 or 0.

[Section31]

You cannot navigate the green menu if your controls do not work...

Any bit, in any computer, only has two possible values. 1 or 0.

Jeff's right-- 1) you need a vagcom cable to do this, and 2) if the controls don't work, reverse whatever value is set for byte14 bit 5 and that should fix things. (i.e. if it's 0 and they don't work, set it to 1)

[GKTS4]

So are the midwestkeyless head units to be avoided? I was about to buy one before reading the posts mentioning some issues with units bought from there.

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[prkieffer]

Midwest keyless are lowest common denominator for sure. They come with no plates meaning the correct esp, drive select, blank plate will be missing. I bought a unit from them and I could tell it came from a flood car (to be expected when that cheap). I had to completely disassemble the entire unit soak and clean in isopropyl alcohol. After that, I installed - it worked great same as other units but if you want the cleanest functional units, wouldn’t be my first recommendation. Super cheap though.


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[GKTS4]

Midwest keyless are lowest common denominator for sure. They come with no plates meaning the correct esp, drive select, blank plate will be missing. I bought a unit from them and I could tell it came from a flood car (to be expected when that cheap). I had to completely disassemble the entire unit soak and clean in isopropyl alcohol. After that, I installed - it worked great same as other units but if you want the cleanest functional units, wouldn’t be my first recommendation. Super cheap though.


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Thanks for the feedback.

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[SnowballAvant]

I just got my car back from dealer after installing the new mmi, controls and hvac unit. Only about half of everything works, I can only control about half of the settings. Does the new mmi unit need to have a firmware update or something?


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[prkieffer]

More details please


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[SnowballAvant]

More details please


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I made a mistake on my end and didn’t copy my coding from my original unit before removing it. I used code that I thought was correct but it obviously wasn’t. I made a appointment with the dealer so they can code it for me next week. Unless I can find correct coding some where I believe the dealer is my only option. Am I correct thinking that?


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[prkieffer]

What options do you have on the car prior to swap? Single zone dual zone, tri zone etc...


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